I don't know about RR's recipe but a French Canadian cookbook I have has a recipe for tarte au sirop d'erable or maple syrup pie

She will need an 8" pre-baked pie crust or 12 baked tart crusts.

Heat 1 C. whole milk.

Combine 1/4 C. AP flour, 1/8 tsp. salt 1 C. maple syrup (if you can get grade B it will have a fuller flavor) until smooth. Stir it slowly into the heated milk and cook until thickened (5-6 minutes). Beat 2 egg yolks in a bowl and temper them with some of the hot maple/milk mixture then stir all back into the pan and continue to cook for another 3-5 mins. Cool. Pour into the pie shell or tart shells. top with whipped cream or meringue. If using meringue it will need to be baked until lightly browned. 350 F for 15 mins is good.

If you are in Canada and looking for Grade B syrup, it's a lost cause. It's not legal for the producers to sell it, or to even give it away. I have a couple of producers who I have had chats with over this...they're not happy either...government, you know)I'm in Canada and I paid the shipping to get Grade B from across the border. The table grades just do not stack up when using for cooking.

Not sure where you heard that Grade B (medium) is not for sale anywhere in Canada, but any Quebec sugar shack should have it. Perhaps it's not exported outside the province as it's not nearly as popular as the lightest classifications? Just a theory.

Edit: according to Wikipedia, "In addition, Canada #2 Amber may be labeled Ontario Amber for farm sales in that province only" - perhaps if you're in Ontario, Annie, that restriction is what the producers you spoke with were referring to. However, technically, that would be the equivalent of Quebec's Grade C.

I'm in Toronto, Ontario, and have no problem finding the Canada No. 2 Maple syrup - amber, in most grocery stores. Special maple syrup stores/booths in St Lawrence market or farmer's markets would probably have even more varieties.

I checked and it's what used to be called grade B...it's the darkest syrup made. This is the Ontario producers that are my reference, including family members who are producers. I checked online and it is indeed not available for retail sale.

Yes, I saw that syrup last time I was at St Lawrence Market, and realised that I had probably missed a change in classicfications. I was recently at the markets in St Jacobs, and got the same answers that I've received from the producers around the GTA. None of the really dark stuff can be begged borrowed or stolen off them under threat of loss of license by the feds.

Sorry, but it's a very dark syrup, not called amber or light. And no, it's not to be found at the farm, as the producers/retailers (that is, more than one) informed me, point blank that there are licensing inspectors who turn up at the farms, and will, on the spot, lift the producers license to sell, if they even offer it free, or are willing to part with some of it, paying under the table. I even asked if I could pre-pay, and just go to the farm, to pick it up. They all said no. And, they all sympathised with me. I asked was there no other way to get it, and they all responded the same. Negative. This is also, by the way, from the producers who are family and know me.

If my information is correct, certain corporations put pressure on the government to have it taken off the market, so that they could have exclusive rights to the syrup, therefore lowering the cost of it, as they'd be the only market, and could more or less name their price.

Once I'd found the Grade B some years ago, I've never gone back. I noticed, on a trip to Texas Christmas 2005, that Whole Foods carries Grade B maple syrup, in bulk (you pour into a bottle the amount you want) at an incredibly fabulous price.

Grade B maple syrup is a darker colour, and more intense in flavour. When my in-laws made it, their "grade B" had been boiled down more than the usual, that is, the usual ratio is 40 parts of maple sap resulting in 1 part of maple syrup. Their's would be more like 50 to 1. I find grade B far preferable on the table as well as for cooking. In cooking with the "finer" grades, I can barely taste a difference between the use of maple syrup and using light brown sugar mixed with water.

I don't remember where I learned this, but originally the higher the grade the less maple flavor. This was because it imparted less maple flavor to the foods it was mixed into as a sweetener (if you were using it to make a vanilla cake or whatever you wouldn't want the maple flavor).